Andy Murray wins gold. Owen Humphreys / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.In December 2015, the BBC was forced to pull out of its deal to broadcast Formula 1 races three years early, following plans to slash £35m from its sports broadcasting budget. At the time it was seen as one of the lowest ebbs for the corporation’s sports department. It followed the announcement earlier in the year that the British Open golf tournament was also to be lost to Sky from 2017. Here ended a torrid year for BBC sports’ executives, which left many worried about the organisation’s ability to compete in coming years. But is the future really that bleak? We’re currently in the middle of the Rio Olympics, with millions tuning in to the BBC for the second part of Super Saturday early on Sunday morning. This is possible thanks to the policy of selecting certain sporting events whose appeal goes beyond fans of specific sports, known collectively as The Crown Jewels, and ensuring they remain on free-to-air television. The Olympics tops the list, which also includes the FA Cup final, the World Cup final and the Rugby League Challenge Cup final. It means that even the deep pockets of Sky and BT Sports can’t wrest control of some of the most-loved sporting events from terrestrial channels. There is also a B-list, which includes Premier League football, for which highlights must be free-to-air. This allows Match of the Day to survive, something for which many were thankful this weekend when Gary Lineker kept his promise to present the show in his underwear. Premier League football will never be seen on the BBC again. But none of this can hide the fact that most of the country’s best-loved sports are now out of the BBC’s reach. Premier League football will never be seen on the channel again. The Six Nations rugby championship was only saved at the last minute in a joint deal with ITV and it seems likely it will be lost completely in the next decade. England’s home test matches had already been lost to Channel Four before being removed from the Crown Jewels list and ultimately lost to Sky. So what can the BBC do to stay relevant in the face of apparently overwhelming market forces?
Digital dreams
One of the biggest developments in multi-sport events like the Olympics has been the advent of digital options such as the red button and iPlayer. It means viewers are no longer at the mercy of directors chasing ratings and can pick and choose to watch the more obscure events if they wish.
In a wider sense this is significant because it partly nullifies the advantage that broadcasters like Sky and BT have by being able to support sport-only channels. Traditionally the BBC’s ability to broadcast sporting events has been limited by having to compete with news, drama and documentaries for time on only two channels. But the digital age means these restrictions have been partially lifted and no tricky scheduling decisions have to be made around upsetting Eastenders fans to show the Scottish FA Cup third round.
The red button and iPlayer effectively give the BBC a large number of broadcasting options beyond BBC 1 and BBC 2. Suddenly having competitors broadcasting sport all day on up to five dedicated channels doesn’t seem like such a large hurdle to overcome.
It is also a way to show some regional sports outside of England via the BBC’s regional channels. This will go some way to closing the gap with the richer broadcasters, although of course still doesn’t solve the problem of not having the rights in the first place.
Out of sight needn’t be out of mind
One aspect of the BBC’s offering that is so often ignored is its radio coverage. And in this area the BBC truly is peerless. Test Match Specialist is the obvious choice to highlight the BBC’s prestige in the audio medium. In a recent interview with Michael Parkinson, long-time commentator Jonathan Agnew (known affectionately as Aggers) described why he believes radio to be the purest form of broadcasting: “It really feels like you’re right inside people’s home, in their heads even, and that's a privileged position to be in,” he said.
For this reason alone the BBC’s dominance of radio coverage will always be significant. The World Service also crosses borders to offer global coverage that cannot be matched – along with a sound of home that keeps many ex-pats and travellers content when homesickness gets a little too much.
Its regional stations also provide a network that offers broadcast options for lower-league football teams and other less fashionable local sports teams across the country that even Sky and BT don’t have the resources (or in many cases motivation) to show. Sky and BT don’t run radio channels simply because they wouldn’t make enough money, which is thankfully a consideration over which the BBC doesn’t have to fret.
Put simply, when sports fans are somewhere they can’t get to a TV screen their first thought is to listen to BBC Five Live. Any football fan who travels to an away ground will tell you that listening to the sporting news together on the way to the match and the phone-in on the way back is part of the ritual of the day. Having your brand ingrained in habit and shared experience is one way to ensure cultural relevance for years to come.
